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Mike Bianchi: NBA = No Big Adjustment
MIKE BIANCHI
Wednesday, November 4, 1998
Story last updated at 11:33 p.m. on Tuesday,
November 3, 1998
NBA: No Big Adjustment
The NBA did not tip off its season last night as
regularly scheduled, and you know what? I didn't
even notice. There are few things in sports that
matter less to me than when the NBA tips off its
season: The Iditarod, the Tour De France, Greg
Larson's opinions and rotisserie league baseball
come to mind.
My official response to the NBA announcing last
week that it was canceling its November schedule
because of the ongoing labor dispute between
owners and players. . . . I didn't even know the
NBA season started in November. In fact, I'm all
for wiping out the months of December-May, too.
And while you're at it, fellas, just go ahead
and take the season off. We'll catch you next
year.
Question: Is it a lockout if nobody cares?
It used to be I would become legitimately angry
and indignant about labor strikes and work
stoppages in sports, but, anymore, I can't even
muster a good, believable feigned defiance. I
don't get mad, I just get bored. Tall
millionaires arguing with short millionaires
over what percentage of your money they're
entitled, too, is like sitting at the Yacht Club
listening to two pretentious Ivy Leaguers debate
the merits of a Robert Mondavi Cabernet
Sauvignon vs. a David Bruce Pinot Noir. It's
something most blue-collar Americans just don't
understand.
Don't get me wrong, I like the NBA, I enjoy
watching it. But I'm not married to it. It's not
like the NFL's cultural phenomenon that has
grown to the point where fans around the country
build their Sunday schedule around what games
are on TV. To me, the NBA is like golf. If it's
on TV Sunday afternoon, I'll watch it. If it's
not - click! - I'll be just as content turning
to a Bonanza rerun.
If I've said it once, I've said it a million
times: This is where sports owners and athletes
always make their big mistake - by thinking they
actually matter in some substantial way. Sure,
it would have been fun last night watching Shaq
dunk or M.J. wagging his tongue and burying a
fall-away jumper, but - click! - look, Xena:
Warrior Princess. Be-tween renting movies,
surfing the Web and the smorgasbord of cable
stations, it will be months before anybody
really notices the NBA is MIA.
Think about it: We have football through
January, which takes us into the monthlong
buildup for college basketball's March Madness.
And when that's over, baseball season starts and
the hockey playoffs are underway. And then
there's golf and NASCAR and, hey, maybe I'll
join that bowling league at work.
Believe me, even those fans in NBA cities will
learn quickly that life without pro basketball
isn't so bad. In fact, they might even realize
it's kind of nice not spending $350 for a family
of four to go see the Clippers play the Nuggets.
That's what happened to baseball, you know. The
players came back from the 1994 strike, but many
fans never really did. The sport's spin doctors
will tell you the McGwire-Sosa home run chase
fully returned the grand old game to America's
good graces. Yeah, then why was this year's
World Series the lowest-rated ever?
But, of course, the NBA players and owners are
so busy arguing over their obscene profits that
they cannot hear our resounding silence. They
cannot fathom how little we care about their
perceived problems.
Knicks center Patrick Ewing, a man who makes a
guaranteed salary of $20 million a year, says of
the labor dispute: ''We're fighting for our
livelihood. We cannot survive if we sign this
[proposed] contract.''
How about we organize a canned-food drive for
the Penny Hardaway Relief Fund?
Oh, the NBA players are suffering mightily, all
right. In a report in the New York Times last
week, Boston's Kenny Anderson said he may have
to go without during these economically strapped
times. That's right, because of the work
stoppage, Anderson is considering selling one of
his eight luxury automobiles.
''I've got to get tight,'' Anderson said. ''. .
. I might have to get rid of the Mercedes.''
That means the Porsche Carrera would have to go
on only six days rest. Can it possibly be done?
What the NBA lockout boils down to is a few
hundred men fighting over a few billion dollars.
And when they're done fighting, maybe I'll watch
their games, maybe I won't.
It all depends on what Bonanza rerun is on.
© The Florida
Times-Union 1998